1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to throttle devices for motorized vehicles and watercraft. More particularly, the present invention relates to a throttle device useful for maintaining the position of the throttle on a personal watercraft.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Jet skis, Wave Runners®, and other personal watercraft use a throttle lever on the handlebar that the rider squeezes towards the handlebar grip to open the throttle. The rider continually squeezes the throttle to maintain or increase speed across the water and releases the throttle lever to allow the watercraft to assume an idle or neutral condition. For long rides, a feature known as Cruise Assist allows the user to maintain a set throttle position without the need to continually adjust or maintain the throttle lever position. Using Cruise Assist, when the rider reaches a desired speed, the user presses a button. After hearing a beep signal, the speed is set and the user now fully squeezes the throttle lever to the full-throttle position to continue at the set speed. The user may increase or decrease speed by pressing up and down buttons on the handlebar all the while maintaining the throttle in the full-throttle position.
For safety, the watercraft throttle is released and the watercraft resumes idle or neutral if the rider lets go of the throttle. This feature prevents the watercraft from continuing at speed in the event the rider loses grip on the handlebar. Similarly, if the rider is thrown from the watercraft, a lanyard attached from the rider to the key removes the key from the watercraft's key socket, thereby shutting down the engine. For similar safety reasons, the Cruise Assist feature and similar features require the rider to squeeze the throttle in the full-throttle position in order to maintain the set speed.
Even with Cruise Assist or the like, long watercraft rides (e.g., several hours) can become tiresome to the rider's throttle hand due to the need to continue to squeeze the throttle lever and maintain one's arms in an outstretched position. To overcome this problem, riders have resorted to unsafe solutions, such as wrapping a Velcro® strap around the throttle to maintain its position or holding the throttle lever in a fixed position by inserting a stick near its pivot point. These methods defeat the watercraft's normal safety shutoff feature when the rider takes his or her hand away from the throttle lever. This condition is potentially dangerous to the rider and to others.